A/N: This is a fill for a request done over at my live journal.
prompt: emma realizing he can be trusted after all. canon or non-canon.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their respective owners.
broken bones always seem to mend
He steps in front of her and the curse hits him straight in the chest —right were his heart is, and he can't help but let out a broken laugh. The irony doesn't escape him. Milah died in a similar manner; maybe this was his fate all along as well.
She instinctively steps forward and catches him. She lowers them both and lays his body on the ground.
Regret is written all over her face and he can taste the bitterness in the back of his throat. Figures she'll realize I can be trusted when I'm on my death bed, he thinks. It was just his luck. Then again, he's never really given anyone any reason to trust him. He's always had a one-track mind, skin the crocodile, anything and anyone else was irrelevant unless it was to help with his cause.
"Don't fret, love. I always knew you'd come around." He chokes out.
For a second Emma's mind goes somewhere else. She's been in this position before. It's Graham all over again, except she doesn't love the pirate in front of her and there aren't any tears being shed. Though there is a sadness and a sense of regret that creeps inside of her.
"Why'd you do it?" She asks. She needs to know why. He's a pirate and not just any bloody pirate, he's Captain Hook and he has a reputation and this, this doesn't make any sense.
"Why do we do anythin', darling?" He throws back at her, and even while dying he winks at her and manages to plaster on that stupid smirk on his face.
Emma wants to shake him and get out an answer any possible way but she'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he'll answer. He did take the curse meant for her after all.
He coughs before continuing, "because I trust you to do what's right. I'm tired of this wretched town. This is the only way I can go home."
He shuts his eyes tightly and a violent attack of coughs hit him, it wracks his body before he subsides. He's breathing shallowly and she knows what he's doing.
She leans over him and whispers in his ear. "You don't fool me pirate."
A smile spreads across his face and he stops breathing.